New sanctions · Sept 30, 2026What changed, and how QvaPay keeps the lawful lanes open →
Permitted Fund FlowsSee the flows →
QvaPay SentinelTry Sentinel →
New on The WorldListen →
New Cuba
ESDonateSupport
⚠ COMPLIANCENot legal, tax or investment advice, and not authorization for any transaction. U.S. sanctions (31 CFR Part 515) prohibit investment or equity in any Cuban business; nothing here is a determination that a transaction is lawful. Structure anything Cuba-facing only with qualified OFAC sanctions counsel and screen every party with QvaPay Sentinel.Primary sources: OFAC Cuba Sanctions · 31 CFR Part 515 (CACR) · OFAC Cuba FAQs · Cuba Restricted List
Fund flow · assisted purchases

Selling Solar Panels and Steak in Cuba

Assisted purchases put U.S. goods in Cuban homes: food, and the solar power the blackouts made essential.

Tim Parsa · Co-Founder & CCO, QvaPay · 4 August 2026 · 3 min read Subscribe

Fund flowsAssisted purchases
Share
Selling Solar Panels and Steak in Cuba

Cuba's grid fails for hours a day and its stores run short of basics. Across the water are suppliers with everything: solar panels, batteries, meat, medicine, tools. The problem was never supply. It was paying for it.

The flowA customer asks QvaPay to buy goods for a relative in Cuba, for personal and family use. QvaPay pays the U.S. seller on the customer's behalf from their QUSD balance, for goods exported from the United States under Commerce rules. SkyMind is taking over that job.
Who it servesFamilies abroad buying for relatives on the island.
NeverNo state store, state importer, or state enterprise. The goods go to a household.
What arrives from the United States
The strongest currencyPaid in dollars, at the supplier's price, not a state markup.
Delivered on blockchain railsSettled instantly on our ledger.
Built-in complianceCustomer and recipient verified and screened; each purchase checked against personal-use patterns.
A P2P forex marketPesos for delivery or installation come from the peer market.

Ana in Orlando buys a solar kit with a battery bank for her parents in Cienfuegos, and a box of beef for her mother's birthday. A week later the fridge runs through the blackout.

Illustrative example; not customers.

Backstory · Erich comes north

Erich García Cruz launched QvaPay in Cuba in March 2020. Today he leads QvaPay, Inc., the U.S. company that runs the service under U.S. law. He knows what a solar panel means in a Cuban home.

U.S. goods, Cuban households, and a sanctions-screened rail between them: Techno-Cubanism, one solar kit at a time.

Fund flows in this post

Assisted purchases put U.S. goods in Cuban hands without a Cuban card.

FlowHow we grow itU.S. tech meets Cuban talent
Assisted purchases
U.S. payer: §515.533 with SCP · from a Cuban balance: pending with OFAC		SkyMind completes card purchases on the customer’s behalf; more U.S. merchants, more categories.Cuban buyers get U.S. goods and software without a card of their own.

The potential. Remittances into Cuba run an estimated $1.1–2B a year (2024; estimates vary). At the Dominican Republic’s rate per person, Cuba would receive about $9.8B, five to nine times today. That is the market QvaPay is built to serve.

How big this flow can get · a year
MarketCuba todayCuba at the Dominican Republic’s rate per person
Remittances received$1.1–2B
2024 est., estimates vary		$9.8B
DR total $11.9B (2025)

A scenario, not a forecast. The Dominican Republic received $11.9B in remittances in 2025 across 11.4 million people, about $1,040 a person; at that rate Cuba’s 9.43 million people would receive about $9.8B a year, five to nine times today. Method and sources.

Expert view · Ricardo Torres, Cuba Economic Review (Cuba Study Group)

Port arrivals in Cuba were down 28.2% year on year through August and 49.4% against 2019, the steepest drop in seven years. On cubanew.com ↗

Sources

  1. eCFR, 15 CFR § 740.21 ↗
  2. eCFR, 31 CFR § 515.533 ↗
  3. U.S. Department of State, Cuba Restricted List ↗
  4. Periódico Cubano, Cuba’s private sector imported nearly $1.2 billion in the first half of 2025 ↗
Share this episode

If this was useful, pass it to someone building in Cuba.

XLinkedInFacebookWhatsAppTelegramEmail
Get every Techno-Cubanism post by email. Free, one email per post, open to everyone. Unsubscribe any time.
← PreviousA USD Business Account for Cuba’s CapitalistsNext →SkyMind AI Organizes QvaPay's P2P Forex Marketplace